


Why Me? (a Solangelo AU fic)

by JustanInnocentWriter



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School AU, Multi, Oooooo, all fluff, b/c I'm innocent, musical AU, pining? maybe? idk, school au, solangelo, the gods are not the parents of the kids, theyre the teachers, too much plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:18:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9824246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustanInnocentWriter/pseuds/JustanInnocentWriter
Summary: Nico di Angelo gets pestered to join the school musical, so he hesitantly auditions. Little does he know, someone is about to bring a lot of sunshine into his life.





	1. Chapter 1

Nico groaned and collapsed into a beanbag in his room. He was completely exhausted from practicing the song for his audition at school. He needed to get that part. Ever since the drama teacher had announced that Olympia High was performing Aladdin, Nico had been repeatedly nagged to audition for Jafar (by _everyone_ : his mom, his friends, his sister, his teachers...). Eventually, he gave in and signed up. What was the worst that could happen, anyway? Nico's audition was tomorrow before school, and he was panicking, though his band friends all assured him that he'd do fine.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Nico picked out the skinniest and... cleanest looking black jeans he had (may as well make an impact and look nice, right?) and a light gray t-shirt with a fluffy brown sweater. He walked through the hallway at Olympia and noticed another boy about his age waiting outside the music room for an audition. There were a lot of other people there, but Nico's attention went to the blondie. Nico recognized him (he was probably on the volleyball team, considering his toned body and his tan), but had never actually talked to him. He was usually pretty busy with homework and with the band, so that made sense. The other boy was taller than him, with amazing blonde curls and the perfect tan.

 

"Hey. Don't think we've officially met?", Nico greeted him as he put his backpack on a chair.

 

"Hi! I'm Will Solace. You trying out today?", the blondie asked, cheerfully.

 

"Mmm. I'm Nico, and yeah.". 

 

Solace leaned against the wall. "What're you trying out for?"

 

"Jafar, you?"

 

"Genie."

 

"Aw, you'd make a good Genie!", Nico smirked. "You're perky enough for it, for sure."

 

Will laughed and blushed a little. "Thanks."

 

"Nico di Angelo?", a booming male voice called from the room as another student exited.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here.", Nico exhaled and picked up his backpack. "Wish me luck, Solace.", he exclaimed and gave the blondie two thumbs up as he walked into the music room.

 

Nico was greeted by their extremely loud drama teacher, Mr. Dionysus and the equally extravagant music teacher, Mr. Apollo. They asked him numerous questions about his personal life and musical experience. Nico was an exceptional music student, he played the bass guitar, the piano and he could sing really well. His song went quite well, surprisingly.  

 

Two days later, the cast list was posted. Nico hesitantly walked over to the music room door to see if he had scored a role. He scanned the list slowly.

 

"Hey, Nico! Looks like you got Jafar! Congrats!", an unknown perky voice said from behind him.

 

Nico spun around, relieved to see that it was only Will. "Yeah, thanks." He glanced back at the list. "And you got Genie! I told you that you'd be great for it!", Nico smirked.

 

"Aw, thank you! I'm really excited to spend some time with you during rehearsals, too.", Will commented, and grinned, which made Nico blush a bit.

 

Nico thought for a moment. "Question, are you in any of my classes?"

 

"I think so. You're in Mrs. Athena's English class, right?", Will asked.

 

Nico nodded. "I'm gonna be late for Math, but can I... get your number or something?". That made Will blush. "For... w-work purposes, obviously.", Nico stammered and took his phone out of his pocket.

 

"Sure!", Will responded, taking the jet-black iPhone and typing in his number. "Here ya go.", he handed the phone back with a beaming smile that Nico couldn't help but stare at. 

 

"Thanks. See ya.", Nico mumbled and sped away down the hallway to his class. He thought about texting Will that instant, but realized how ridiculous that would be and decided to wait until lunch. Maybe he would run into the blondie during the day.

 

* * *

 

 

At lunch, Nico decided to text Will. He changed his contact name to  _ **Sunshine**_ and then blushed because of how awkward that was. 

 

 _hey :)_  , he wrote. Nico reluctantly clicked  **Send** and quickly turned off the phone and shoved it in his bag.

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Nico was in the middle of a geography class (which he totally zoned out of) when his phone buzzed in his pocket, causing the teacher to scan the class for whoever might’ve been texting. Nico shuffled in his seat to hide his phone, but some people noticed him and suppressed laughter. He waited until the teacher looked back at the board to check who it was from.

 

_ Hi!! I know you're probably in class or whatever right now, sorry. _

 

Nico grinned down at his phone and started typing a response.

 

_ nah, it's fine. I'm jus- _

 

“ Di Angelo !”, the teacher's voice boomed across the class directing all attention toward Nico, who jumped in his seat and nearly dropped his phone on the ground.

 

“Mm! Yeah, Mrs. Demeter?”, Nico replied, shoving his phone in his pocket.

 

“I asked you a  _ question _ .”, she said bluntly, tapping her foot and waiting for an answer. Not seeing any response from Nico, who hadn't been listening at all, the teacher groaned. “Why was the earth in the Prairies ideal for agriculture?”

 

Nico paused. He had absolutely no clue. He decided to make up an answer on the spot.

 

“Um…”, he started, and Mrs. Demeter grinned smugly, thinking that Nico wouldn't be able to answer. “Because… the, um, the terrain is flat..? And the weather isn't too cold.”, he responded hesitantly, hoping that it was right and he wouldn't embarrass himself. The teacher's grin morphed into a scowl as she realized that Nico had been correct.

 

“Yes. Since the Prairies have a moderate temperature year-round, this allows crops to grow nicely there. Typically of grains and corn.”, Mrs. Demeter continued her lesson.

 

Nico took his phone out again and continued texting Will. 

 

_ nah, it’s fine. _

 

He hit  **_Send._ **

 

_ I'm just in geo right now _

 

_ Totally tuned out _

 

Nico noticed Mrs. Demeter glancing his way with a disapproving frown, and put his phone away. The rest of the class was uneventful. Nico honestly tried to pay attention, but it was difficult. He did end up taking some notes to reference later, though.

 

Nico wandered, daydreaming as he walked through the halls to his next class. He was thinking about musical practice, which took place that evening. Nico was really looking forward to it, but he was nervous and partially regretting his decision to join. He inhaled deeply and told himself to calm down. He would be fine.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Will got Nico’s text when he was in Phys. Ed. He heard his phone’s ring-tone from his sweater, which was draped over a bench along with many other garments of clothing. Will inhaled sharply, knowing that phones were supposed to be on silent during Phys. Ed class.

 

“Whose phone is that?!”, Mr. Ares pointed at the pile of sweaters and bellowed at the students who were running laps as his face went pink. Will didn't respond, hoping that the gym teacher would forget about it. “No one's speaking up?” Again, no one responded. Mr. Ares’ face was getting redder by the second.

 

_ Please, don't let him go check the pile of clothes,  _ Will pleaded silently as he kept running.

 

“Travis!! That your phone?!”

 

The troublemaker glanced up. “No!” Mr. Ares glared at him.

 

“Y’sure about that?!”

 

“Not  everything is caused by me, man!”, Travis yelled back.

 

Will could've sworn that Mr. Ares growled at Travis. Literally, growled.

 

Connor, Travis’ twin brother, caught up with him and slapped his back, laughing.

  
That was when Mr. Ares gave up on determining the culprit of the phone notification, which made Will sigh in relief. At least he wouldn't be getting in trouble. Getting sent to the principal's office could interfere with his plan to get at least 70s in every subject this year. For some reason, Mr. Ares seemed to have something against Will. He always made an effort to make him demonstrate exercises in front of the class that he knew Will couldn’t perform properly. Yet, the exercises that Will could do, he was never chosen to do. This was extremely frustrating because Will did try to do well in his classes, but Mr. Ares just  had to ruin everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Aathavan wasn't online, so any mistakes in grammar are because he wasn't available to help me edit/revise.)


	3. Chapter 3

     Nico and Will had English class together. This was the only class that they would ever have together (maybe Mathematics or Phys. Ed, but not this year), considering Nico was taking French Immersion. That meant that all of his courses were in French, except Language Arts, Mathematics, and Phys. Ed. Will, on the other hand, was taking all of his courses in English.

 

     Mr. Ares, Will’s gym teacher, always let them out of class late, so Will had to run to room 293 for English right after that. As he ran down the hall, he heard someone singing “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. Will would know because he listened to the new album at least seven times on the first night it was released. As he looked around, trying to find who was singing because honestly, their voice was beautiful, he saw someone with scruffy black hair and a red t-shirt. It was Nico, he realized.

 

     Wait. Nico. Nico was singing. _Nico_ was _singing._

 

     And he was wearing _colour_.

 

 _Wow._ Will thought. He wondered what happened. When he met Nico, he thought that he’d be the kind of person who always wore black and listened to MCR. Also known as ‘one of those emo kids’. Apparently not. Huh, weird.

 

     Will walked up to Nico, who was heading to the same class as him, he assumed, and tapped his shoulder. Nico jumped and screamed, directing all attention in the hallway toward him. Then, he started laughing.

 

     “Oh, um, hah, sorry...”, Will said, running his hand through his hair.

 

     “No, it’s fine!”, Nico responded.

 

     This was… weird. _Really_ weird. Nico was being so… positive…?

 

     “Um, are you okay? You’re being… like, abnormally happy.”

 

     “Yeah, it’s just that Ed Sheeran just uploaded a new album. I’m really into music, so that makes me act… ‘abnormally happy’” Nico smirked.

 

     “Hm. Okay.", he paused for a moment. "Ready for English? We’ve got a quiz, right?”, Will asked as they walked toward the class together.

 

     “Yep. It’s pretty easy, honestly. I mean, it’s not like it’s an _exam_ or anything. Plus I’ve been doing well this semester so…”, Nico replied, accenting his words with dramatic hand gestures.

 

     Will nodded. “Yeah, I guess.” They walked into the class and took their seats, mentally going over the lessons before the quiz.

 

     “Alright, this is _not_ a difficult test. You should all do fine, as long as you’ve been _paying attention_ to my lessons.”, Mrs. Athena said, emphasizing that last point towards a few students in specific. “Any questions before we begin?”

 

     No one asked anything, so the students just started writing.

 

     Will scanned the paper, trying to determine which questions would get him the most marks.

 

     The teacher had been right, it was particularly easy. Considering Will had, in fact, been paying attention in class, he should do well. He went through the first seven questions relatively quickly, but this was only because he had a habit of rushing through tests. Will had a bit of trouble on question eight but got through it after a few minutes of thinking. He completed the test with twelve minutes to spare. Will sat semi-patiently while quietly tapping his foot on the ground to pass the time.

 

     Will’s gaze wandered from the clock over to Nico, who seemed to be struggling with a question as he had his eyebrows furrowed and was silently mumbling to himself. Will hoped that he was doing alright.

 

     “Okay. Hand in your tests on the round table, please. Pack all of your things away and go have lunch.”, Mrs. Athena said just before the bell was going to ring.

 

     As all the test papers were being placed in the box, Will noticed Nico furiously scribbling in an answer to a question and running up to the box to hand it in. They walked out of the class at the same time.

 

     “Dude. Did you finish the test?”, Will asked.

 

     Nico frowned as they walked through the hall which was rapidly filling with students. “Did you just _dude_ me?”

 

     “Um. No, Iー”, Will stammered and Nico started laughing.

 

     “I’m _joking_.”, Nico said and Will let out a relieved laugh, “Yeah. I did finish, but I’m pretty sure I failed the last question. Other than that it was fine.”

 

     “Same here. I think I did okay.”, Will said.

 

     “Oh, yeah.”, Nico started, seeming like he’d just remembered something, “We have musical today!”

 

     Will had nearly forgotten about practice, but the thought of it made him grin. He was really excited to do a full script run-through and listen to Niー everyone sing.

 

     “Mm! Yeah! I’m looking forward to it. See ya then, I guess.”, Will said as Nico stopped at his locker and made his way down the hall to get his lunch.

 

     “I’m looking forward to it as well.”, Nico smiled. _SMILED. AT HIM._

 

     Will turned quickly after waving goodbye and blushed. Hard.

 

     When he got to his locker, it refused to open even though he used the correct combination.

 

     Will groaned and kicked his locker in frustration.

 

     “Ya doin’ okay there?”, said an unidentified voice coming from behind him.

 

     He whipped his head around. Oh. It was only Percy.

 

     Percy Jackson. A semi-tall black haired senior guy on the student government, the swim team, the football team and the yearbook committee. Also the boyfriend of the smartest girl in the school, Annabeth Chase. This guy was friends with _everyone._

 

     “Yeah. I’m fine. Just-”, Will tried pulling his locker again after inputting the combination, but it wouldn’t budge. “My locker won’t open.”, he groaned.

 

     Percy laughed. “ ‘Kay. I’ve got something.”, he said and opened his locker which happened to be next to Will’s.

 

     Will was a bit scared. He’d known that Percy was a bit… Well, you could say that he didn’t think before he did things. They weren’t considered _friends_ , but they talked quite often, even though Will was in grade 10 and Percy was in grade 12.

 

     The senior reached into his locker and started pulling out a long object which Will soon realized was a sledgehammer. “Here!”, Percy grinned.

 

     Will’s eyes widened. “Shit, man! Put that away!”, he exclaimed, trying to shove it back into Percy’s locker. “Why do you have a _sledgehammer_?!”, he whispered, hoping not to attract any attention from passing students that were heading to the cafeteria.

 

     “Why wouldn’t I have a sledgehammer?”, Percy replied like it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

     “You do _realize_ that if a teacher sees this, you could get suspended, right?”, Will asked, rubbing his arm nervously.

 

     “Meh. The teachers like me, I’ll be fine.”, Percy shrugged.

 

     Will tried _one last time_ to open his locker with a quiet grunt (having already wasted four minutes), and finally, it worked. He shoved his books away and grabbed his lunch and a copy of Red Nexus by Benoit Chartier.

 

     “Whatever, man. Try not to get in trouble, ‘kay?”, Will pleaded.

 

     “Orright. It’ll be fine, don’t worry, Solace.”, Percy said as he walked toward the cafeteria.

 

     Will hummed _Friend Like Me_ , his big song in the musical on the way down, surrounded by a ton of other students. He was really working hard to memorize his lines.

 

     He glanced across the cafeteria and noticed Leo Valdez sitting at a table with Piper McLean and Jason Grace. Will decided to head over there. Leo was one of his best friends, anyways.

 

     “Hey, guys!”, he exclaimed as he sat down next to Leo.

 

     Leo grinned. “ ‘Sup, Solace? You seem cheery. I mean, cheerier than usual.”

 

     “Musical practice today. Piper, you ready?”

 

     Piper was playing Jasmine. It made sense; even Will could admit that she was quite pretty. The only problem was that Jason, her boyfriend, was jealous because Frank Zhang was cast as Aladdin. It wasn’t like Jason even _tried out_ for the musical, he just didn’t want anyone to act like they were in love with Piper. And he’d already whined so much about it to her that she just stopped listening.

 

     “Yeah!! I’m _so_ ready.”, Piper replied and gave him a thumbs up while shoving ramen into her mouth. Jason grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath and Piper stopped eating for a second to punch him playfully. Or maybe  _not so playfully_ , as Jason clutched his stomach and groaned afterward.

 

     “Dude. I saw you with that Nico guy. He seems cool. You should introduce us.”, Leo commented.

 

     Now _that_ was kind of random.

 

     “Um, okay. When he comes to eat I’ll call him over.”, Will promised.

 

     After a couple of minutes, Will noticed Nico come through the entrance so he waved. “Nicooo, c’mere!”, he exclaimed.

 

     Nico furrowed his eyebrows and walked over.

 

     “Hi, Will.”, Nico said as he sat down awkwardly next to him.

 

     “Hey! This is Leo, Piper, and Jason.”, Will introduced them.

 

     “Yeah. I know Piper. She’s in the musical… We all met each other, or did you already forget that?”, Nico asked blatantly and Leo laughed.

 

     “Damnnn, getting some sass from this boy! I like him already!”, Leo smirked.

 

     Nico laughed. “Nice to meet you. You involved in the musical?”

 

     “Kinda. I’m doing lighting and sound.”

 

     Leo was the techy type. He always took apart calculators in the middle of math class and got dirty glances from the teachers.

 

     “Yep, Leo’s our tech guy!”, Will grinned.

 

     The group chatted for a few more minutes until the bell rang and they went their separate ways to their lockers. Will couldn’t _wait_ for musical practice that afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyeeee Aathavan was quite helpful with this chapter!! he gave me prompts and helped revise n stuff. I'm glad he was online.


	4. Chapter 4

Nico didn’t pay attention in class for the rest of the day. He  _ tried _ , but with musical practice coming up that evening, how could he? The nerves of the first practice of the year kept creeping up on him and distracting him from the lesson. It’s not like he really needed to do much anyway, he did pretty well in classes without paying attention. 

 

The day went by slowly for everyone (at least that’s what Hazel texted him). It was like each second was a minute long. 

 

Finally. FINALLY, the last bell rang. Nico shot up out of his seat even before the teacher dismissed them. He heard the teacher call him as he ran out the door, but he ignored it. The bell had rung, anyways. The school day was over, so there was nothing that the teacher could do to keep him behind.

 

Nico rushed through the hallway down to his locker (he couldn’t possibly be late!), but he tripped on the way. This didn’t usually happen because Nico was typically only clumsy when he was excited or was rushing to get somewhere. Since both of these were the case, the chance of his clumsiness kicking in was double what it would usually be.

 

_ Damn it... _ He groaned and pushed himself up from the ground. He started to gather his books off the ground (luckily, only three had taken the fall with him), and someone handed him one of them. He glanced up to see their face.

 

“Oh, hey, Hazel. Thanks!”, the corners of his mouth curled up a bit. 

 

“Headin’ to musical?”

 

“Yeah..”, Nico ran his hand through his hair. He started turning his combination lock. 

 

“Right, see ya’ there then, bro?”, Hazel said.

 

“Yep.” Hazel walked down the hallway with her curly ponytail bouncing along behind her.

 

_ 25, 12, 9. _ He was certain that he’d used the right code. Nico yanked on the lock, but it wouldn’t budge! Okay, this always happens, he’s absolutely sure that he’s got the combo’ right, but it never works! 

 

_ 25, 12, 9. _ He turned it  _ correctly _ again, he was absolutely sure this time. 

 

Alright, this time it worked. His lock had always been stubborn. Nico quickly shoved all of his books and homework into his backpack and slammed his locker shut. He ran (well, speed-walked. He didn’t want to get in  _ trouble _ .) through the hallways to the gymnasium which was used for musical practices, until closer to the performance day when they would move into the auditorium.

 

He opened the gym doors and dumped his bag and coat where there was room. The gym had already filled with eager backstagers, actors, and singers all holding their scripts. Whoa. Okay. Lots of people. Nico was getting overwhelmed. He grabbed his script and didn’t bother looking for anyone he knew; he went to sit in the corner and read over his lines until rehearsal started. 

 

Luckily, Hazel noticed him avoiding contact and pushed through people to get to Nico. “Hey, bro. Are you okay?”, she asked, and his head snapped up, almost in fear. She pushed his hair out of his face because it had fallen as he bent over to read.

 

“Yeah. I guess. Just lots of people.”

 

“Gotcha. Also, here’s an elastic,”, Hazel pulled a hair elastic off her wrist and held it out to Nico. “Because your hair is kinda long and might get in the way.”, she grinned.

 

Nico smiled. “Thanks, Hazel.” He stuck the elastic in his mouth, reached behind his head and grabbed his hair in a bunch, then proceeded to put it up.

 

Someone called Hazel from across the gym and she mouthed the words “Gotta go” to Nico before she ran off. Nico groaned and pushed himself off the ground, figuring that he may as well go find someone he knew.

 

As he made his way through the crowd, someone tapped Nico on the shoulder. He whirled around.

 

“Hi!”, Will greeted him. He was way too peppy for just having suffered through a day of school. Nico was definitely ready to sleep, but Will  _ never _ seemed tired. 

 

“Hey. Ready for practice?”

 

“I’ve been acting for  _ years _ , honey. Of course, I’m ready.”, he replied, with a completely serious look on his face, and Nico seemed confused before Will started laughing. “But seriously, yeah. You?”, Will said between laughter.

 

Nico smirked. “Should be.”

 

“I’m sure yoー” Will was cut off by Mr. Dionysus’ yelling. Or perhaps that was his normal volume of voice since no one had ever heard him any quieter.

 

“Greetings, actors, and backstage, uh, people! I hope you all are excited about this play. Mr. Apollo will take over for the backstagers, so if you could all gather near the back wall, that would be great.” They all made a heck of a lot of noise making their way back. Nico didn’t understand why, because they were simply walking 20 metres, yet they sounded like a herd of elephants. “I’m assuming most of you took time to talk to each other earlier?” The actors hesitantly shook their heads. “No? Oh, uh, okay. Well, take a few minutes to do that now, I guess.” The noise level rose significantly.

 

Nico and Will stuck together. They’d already known that Piper was playing Jasmine and that Frank was playing Aladdin, but they learned that Razoul (the head guard) was being played by Thalia Grace and that the two other guards were played by Connor and one of his friends. Travis was playing Iago (Nico was excited to work with him), and Grover Underwood (neither of them knew him very well, but they knew that he was Percy’s friend) was cast as the Sultan. They met all of the chorus members and the five narrators, too.

 

The actors gradually quieted down and Mr. Dionysus continued talking. ‘“We’re doing  _ at least _ one full run-through of the script tonight. Neither Mr. Apollo nor I will be stopping you to correct anything, but we will be taking notes. No pressure!”, he grinned. 

 

_ Yeah, no pressure at all. _ Nico thought and rolled his eyes.

 

“I’ve got a question!”, Piper chimed in.

 

“Go ahead, Piper.”, Mr. Dionysus said.

 

“Are we, uh, sitting on the ground?” She wrinkled her nose and a few people giggled.

 

“Yes.” Piper groaned. “Any more questions? No? Okay, let’s get started.” He sat down and the rest of the cast hesitantly did too. Many of them sat on their bags or sweaters because the gym floor was honestly disgusting. Who knows what had gone down in there? 

 

Travis had been told to sit next to Nico since their characters went hand-in-hand, and Will sat on the other side, next to both Nico and Frank.

 

The first song was “Arabian Nights”. There were a few parts to it, and Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie had small bits in it too. A bunch of the narrators missed their cues, but Mr. Perfect (Will) and the two stars of the show didn’t, of course. 

 

_ Come on down, _

 

_ Stop on by! _

 

_ Hop a carpet and fly! _

 

Nico thought that Will’s bit was pretty adorable. Then he listened to him sing.

 

_ To another Arabian night…  _

 

He watched Will until the song ended. Well, damn. Blondie had a great voice too. Of course. Once he finished singing, Will lifted his head out of his script and frowned at Nico. “Did that sound okay?”, he asked quietly as the first scene unfolded. “I honestly have only heard it once.”

 

“Yeah! It was really good.”, Nico replied, trying not to blush (but failing miserably). He was getting a bit nervous to read his parts in front of so many experienced actors/musicians. Would they judge him for screwing up? It's not like he'd really practiced all that much in preparation for the rehearsal... 

 

“Mm. Okay. Thanks.”

 

“Now  _ shut up _ , I’ve got lines soon.”

 

Will’s eyes widened. “Says the one who gets in trouble all the time for talking in class!”

 

“Uh, how did you know that?”, Nico’s face turned red. 

 

“I didn’t.”, Will grinned.

 

“Oh, gods. I hー”

 

“Are we interrupting something?”, Mr. Dionysus boomed from across the gymnasium. All eyes in the room were glued to Will and Nico.

 

“Uh. No?”, Will said.

 

“DiAngelo, you’ve got a line. Do we need to separate you two?”, he deadpanned.

 

“Oh, shit, sorry.”, Nico mumbled and glanced down at his script.

 

Of course, Will had gotten him in trouble. All his friends seemed to blame him for things or cause trouble for him, and it seemed to be the same with Will. That was why many of the teachers pegged him as a “troublemaker”, even though he never technically  _ made _ the trouble.

 

“Narrator 1, line again please.”, Mr. Dionysus instructed.

 

“Jafar! Jafar! Is it true that since you’ve been Vizier, the local crime rate has plummeted?”, a girl piped up.

 

“No kidding.”, Nico smirked. And the practice went on.

 

* * *

 

  
  


Everything in the first two scenes went great. Or, great for a first run-through, anyways. Will guessed that if he looked back at it in two weeks, he would realize how badly it really went.

 

Then Nico had his scene before “Why Me?”. And Will stared. A lot. The whole time. Nico turned out to be a better actor than Will would have imagined. He’d honestly thought that Nico had never had any experience acting before, but it didn’t seem to be the case. He fit his character so well. He and Travis bantered back and forth like they were brothers and had done it for their entire lives! However, Will was a teensy bit jealous because Nico had never done any acting except for drama class and seemed to be way better than him already.

 

_ In my formative and hungry years, _

 

_ I was unappreciated by my peers. _

 

_ Inconsequential!  _

 

_ What does it take? _

 

_ To catch a break? _

 

Everyone seemed impressed by Nico and Travis once the song ended and they both laughed maliciously. Some people clapped. One person whooped from the other side of the gym. Will guessed that it was probably Leo.

 

“Yes, well done.”, Mr. Dionysus said, rolling his eyes.

 

Leo came sneaking up from the other side of the gym. “Sorry to interrupt you with my beautiful presence, but we need to steal Will for a sec.”

 

Mr. Dionysus glared at Leo. “No.”

 

Leo grinned. “Mr. Apollo says sooo…”, he replied in a sing-song voice.

 

Mr. Dionysus sighed. “Fine.”

 

“Get up, Will! Let’s go! And bring your script. We need to figure out what props and stuff the Genie needs.”, Leo exclaimed as he rushed to the back of the gym, and Mr. Dionysus took over as the Genie while Will was working with the backstage kids.

  
  


* * *

 

 

“William. Stop drawing in your script! You’ll barely be able to read it anymore!”, Will’s mom scolded as they drove home.

 

“It’s fineee. I can still read it. It’s my script anyway. I already paid for it!”

 

His mom laughed. “I was just teasing. That’s a really pretty flower you’re drawing there, though.”

 

Will closed his script and smiled. “Thanks, mom. But keep your eyes on the road. I don’t wanna die today!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is titled "Why Me?", because that's a song in the Aladdin JR musical production.  
> 2\. Thank you to Aathavan for editing this for me, and giving me prompts for all of my other fics. <3
> 
>  
> 
> if ya want to contact me, please do! i'd love to get to know y'all! ;)
> 
> here:
> 
> ig: @pureinnocentchild + @sockaliens + @sockalienss + @coransmustachewax
> 
> tumblr: innocentlilnerd
> 
> e-mail: chloedthegeek@gmail.com


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